Josh Mack blogging at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts, and occasionally on; bicycles, politics, Brooklyn, parenting, crafts, and good reading. Currently helping to build a new NYC neighborhood news site - nearsay.com, that celebrates the voices that make our city. Subscribe to the daily newsletter it gives you what you need to know.

November 17, 2009

NiemanLab on McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama

And that’s the most interesting aspect of Panorama. What we all once viewed as a temporary container with a 24-hour expiration date is now being reborn in souvenir form. It makes sense. We seem hardwired to connect memories and physical products. Just look back to November 2008, when the U.S. presidential election gave newspapers a one-day reprieve from the economic apocalypse. Or consider the long history of front-page reprints. Newspapers and collectibles are already entwined. But with Panorama, perhaps we’re seeing the broadsheet format, with its hundreds of pages and multiple inserts and various content forms, re-imagined as a sort of long-form, luxurious physical good. It’s not just a frame-worthy memento. It’s the leather-bound first edition of the newspaper business.

Comments

NiemanLab on McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama

And that’s the most interesting aspect of Panorama. What we all once viewed as a temporary container with a 24-hour expiration date is now being reborn in souvenir form. It makes sense. We seem hardwired to connect memories and physical products. Just look back to November 2008, when the U.S. presidential election gave newspapers a one-day reprieve from the economic apocalypse. Or consider the long history of front-page reprints. Newspapers and collectibles are already entwined. But with Panorama, perhaps we’re seeing the broadsheet format, with its hundreds of pages and multiple inserts and various content forms, re-imagined as a sort of long-form, luxurious physical good. It’s not just a frame-worthy memento. It’s the leather-bound first edition of the newspaper business.